Well, the future is officially here. We have entered the 2020s, and if the movies are to believed, this is when the future is really supposed to kick off.
The 2010s saw many radical technological innovations. But let’s be serious, we are certainly not living in the future that cinema promised us. If you look outside your window or read the news, you can clearly see that we aren’t living in “the future” — we’re living in a slightly different version of the 2000s.
Luckily, all that is about to change. With the 2020s, we are in for some truly amazing technological leaps. That is, if the movies are to be believed.
Flying Cars
We thought we would have flying cars by now. Blade Runner featured flying cars, and that movie took place in 2019. Back to the Future, Total Recall, The Fifth Element…all seem to promise a future full of flying cars and airborne highways. And yet, we still have the same old boring cars. The transportation industry has seen numerous leaps — electric cars are quickly on the rise, and self-driving cars are slowly being tuned and perfected. Unfortunately, flying cars are absolutely nowhere in sight. Then again, maybe that’s just what they want us to think…
Hoverboards
Speaking of Back to the Future, where are the hoverboards that they promised us? As we all know, Back to the Future Part II takes place in 2015 and features an iconic hoverboard chase through the streets of Hill Valley. And yet, five years on from 2015, we still don’t have any hoverboards.
And no, those silly things on wheels most certainly do not count. Maybe we’ll get there this decade. We just need to figure out the whole “body supported by something floating in the air” thing. Actually, no. We need to figure out the whole “floating in the air” thing first…
Jet Packs
And for that matter, where are the jet packs?! Jet packs have long been a staple of science fiction. Heck, even James Bond got in on the jet pack action back in Thunderball, which was released in 1965. Yes, there are a few jet packs out there that perform a variety of functions. But let’s be honest, those things pale in comparison to the ones found in movies and video games. We want to strap it on and fly to New York, not hover ten feet off the ground.
Everything Is Dark (Or Colorful)
If the movies are to be believed, the future is either supremely dark and dreary or colorful and weird. There is no in between. Movies like Blade Runner, Looper, and The Matrix paint the future as this industrial, dark, incredibly dreary place. And it’s usually raining. Other movies like The Fifth Element and The Hunger Games paint futuristic societies as bright, colorful, vibrant, and filled with bizarre-looking people. So, according to the movies, this coming decade will either see us living in turmoil or having orange hair.
Everything Is Autonomous
Okay, now we’re veering into the “actually pretty darned likely” territory. For many years, sci-fi stories have been depicting a society filled with autonomous pieces of technology. Self-driving cars, factories that run on their own, robot waiters, and a house that you can control with your voice. And…we’re actually getting there.
Self-driving cars are coming, factories are basically autonomous now, fast food employees and cashiers are slowly being phased out in favor of self-checkout or delivery, and Alexa knows all your house’s secrets. The future is nigh!
Holograms
According to the movies, we should now be living in a society absolutely riddled with holograms. These include holograms in the form of people, especially when they have a message for the protagonist or something. Why leave a simple voice mail when a full-sized hologram can be sent instead? And movies like Minority Report show holograms that can be seen and interacted with with the flick of a hand. Granted, that movie takes place in 2054 — so we have some time yet.
Robots. Like, Full-On Robots.
At this point, we should all have robots at our beck and call. And we’re not talking “robots” like Alexa or Siri who can dim our lights and remind us to pick up a bag of spinach from the grocery store after work. No, we’re talking, like…robots. Like, physical, moving, talking robots. These things have long been a mainstay in science fiction, and we can’t believe they aren’t a household thing yet. Will Smith’s I, Robot takes place in 2035. So, we have fifteen years to go from what we have now to a society full of functioning, autonomous, humanoid robots. Seems reasonable.
Space Colonies
Humans have been around for about 300,000 years, and we still haven’t figured out how to colonize space. How embarrassing. 2001: A Space Odyssey begins in 1999 (explicitly stated in Arthur C. Clarke’s novelization), and that story begins with characters traveling to a moon base. We haven’t been to the moon since 1972, never mind colonized it. Blade Runner also presents a society with off-world colonies, and as far as we’re aware, we don’t have any off-world colonies — yet.
A Dystopia/Utopia
In most science fiction stories and movies, the future Earth is not one of balance — it’s typically either horrible or brilliant. In other words, it’s a dystopia or a utopia. And if the movies are to be believed, we should either be living in a dystopia or a utopia by now. As you know, we are not. Yes, some people believe we are headed towards a dystopia, but show some credit to the human race, we aren’t there quite yet.
Laser Guns
Also according to sci-fi movies, we should all have laser guns about now. Laser guns have long been a staple of science fiction, and their signature “pew pew” sounds have long been mimicked by children (and adults, let’s be serious) everywhere. The Terminator is a fantastic example of this. 2029 is portrayed as this utter apocalyptic wasteland, the robots are fully sentient, and they have laser guns. Well, the world isn’t apocalyptic, we don’t have sentient robots, and we certainly don’t have laser guns. Then again, that movie takes place in 2029. We have nine years to figure it all out.
